San Jacinto College is a community college in east Harris County whose beginnings in the  early 1960s supported education and training in trades, heavy manufacturing and industrial services in and around the Houston Ship Channel. With the region’s increasing population and expansion of Houston’s eastern suburbs, the college has seen tremendous growth and increasingly diverse programs and degree plans, today serving more than 41,000 students and faculty on five campuses primarily in and around Pasadena. Partnering with several leading architects and contractors, M2L’s higher education portfolio includes multiple projects throughout the San Jacinto College system.

Working with architect Huitt–Zollars, M2L provided site landscape design and tree preservation services for two new education buildings. On the south campus surrounding a culinary building, M2L designed a low-maintenance landscape plan with paving materials to complement the overall building style. An outdoor vegetable garden patio gives expanded educational opportunities for culinary students, as well as an outdoor amenity and gathering space. An additional facility on the south campus includes a unique courtyard that enhances the building’s contemporary U-shaped entry with increased outdoor learning and gathering space.